Reactive composite materials show promise for use as weapon projectiles designed to defeat a “protected” target. Such protected targets can be targets protected by a building structure or armor. Upon striking such a protected target, the energy of the impact serves as a catalyst that initiates a chemical reaction of the reactive composite material. This reaction releases a large amount of energy.
As is known in the art, reactive composite materials generally include particles or powdered forms of one or more reactive metals, one or more oxidizers, and typically some binder materials. The reactive metals can include aluminum, beryllium, hafnium, lithium, magnesium, thorium, titanium, uranium, zirconium, as well as combinations, alloys and hydrides thereof. The oxidizers can include ammonium perchlorate, chlorates, lithium perchlorate, magnesium perchlorate, peroxides, potassium perchlorate, and combinations thereof. The binder materials typically include epoxy resins and polymeric materials.
The problems associated with reactive composite projectiles are two-fold. First, the projectiles must be launched and propelled at high speeds in order to penetrate a projected target. However, reactive composite materials have relatively low mechanical strength. This limits launch and in-flight speeds for such projectiles lest they break up at launch or during flight making them aerodynamically unstable and reducing their effectiveness at target impact. Second, the relatively low strength and mass density of reactive composite projectiles limits their target penetration effectiveness on targets having thicker “skins”.